The 3 Months
by mediocregatsby
Summary: Filling in the gaps between Seasons 2 and 3, but with a plot/storyline rather than a series of vignettes. Season 2.5, if you will. Focus is on how Bellamy and Gina's relationship came about, but plenty of delinquent/Bellamy interactions (especially Monty). More chapters to come. Events in this story are serious but character interactions are generally intended to lighten the mood.
1. Chapter 1: Routine

Report to watch. Guard training. Report to Kane. Scout. Report to Kane. Sleep.

Routine was the key to their survival, or at least to Bellamy's sanity. Routine meant he knew what was coming next, a luxury that none of the 100 had been able to afford since their haphazard arrival on Earth. Knowing what was coming next meant Bellamy had time to prepare himself for the reminders of the moral corners he and everyone from the Ark had cut to survive. Bellamy couldn't help but recall one of Chancellor Jaha's particularly unhelpful Unity Day speeches, something along the lines of "hardship brings out the best in humanity." Bellamy could've told you back then that these were the insubstantial delusions of a leader whose policies contradicted his proclamations of his trust in the "inherent goodness" of his people. Apparently second children and the mothers that carried them didn't have inherent goodness. Here on Earth, Bellamy could do more than tell you – he could point to any progress made by Skaikru and remind you of the innocent people that died for that progress. Bellamy had those reminders memorized, from the now-familiar sight of Jasper sprawled drunkenly on the floor to Raven's limp to the constant expression of thinly-veiled worry and frustration on Monty's face to-

"Stop," Bellamy reminded himself, inhaling deeply. He was still working on the exhaling part. There was plenty of time to worry about his friends later. In fact, most of the "Sleep" part of Bellamy's routine was devoted to worrying. If Bellamy was honest, worrying had become a constant in every element of his routine, but it was always in the quiet dark of his bunk that he found it hardest to avoid himself and the acts of violence his hands had-

"Stop," Bellamy reminded himself, firmer this time. There was no time to worry about himself.

Report to watch. Almost as bad as sleeping. Standing with a finger on the trigger, anxiety mounting the longer the horizon remained free of threats. Bellamy tried not to think about the fact that if an enemy was really a threat, they would know enough to make their way towards Arkadia undetected. It was always the things that weren't there that were the most frightening. Clarke wasn't there, hadn't been for the past 3 we-

"Stop!" Bellamy reminded himself, getting angrier at himself for losing focus. "Float her, anyway. She left. You stayed. You're still here, so _be_ here. Float her." Even in his thoughts, Bellamy's cursing was half-hearted. The delinquents tossed the word around all the time, but the expression wasn't so easily delivered after you'd actually seen someone you cared about floated. Bellamy remembered watching his mother being abruptly sucked into space- he hadn't been expecting it to be that fast. Not much to remember visually, just the feeling of guilt and loss of direction that Bellamy had felt as it happened. Those feelings hadn't gone away as quickly as his mother's bod-

"STOP. Jesus, Bellamy, stop being dramatic. Stop…" The second "stop" he muttered aloud, under his breath as he rolled his shoulders and shifted his feet, scanning the perimeter desperately for something to fight. No luck. Just peace. Bellamy knew peace was the goal, but he wasn't sure where he fit in in a peaceful Earth. Not that it mattered; he'd probably die in a grounder skirmish before real peace ever-

"STOP-" Bellamy began to say out loud. He was interrupted by the arrival of the next guard.

"Uh, hey man, sorry to sneak up on you. It's just me, Monroe. Just taking over your post…"

"Yeah, Monroe, sorry I was just…uh, all clear. Nothing happened. Thanks." Bellamy left before Monroe could dwell on the awkwardness of her interruption. Bellamy could only hope she wouldn't think enough of it to say anything to Kane.


	2. Chapter 2: Inside the Walls

Bellamy tensed reflexively as the metal gate to Arkadia closed behind him, sealing him and everyone within the metal patchwork quilt of a wall away from the unforgiving world outside. Bellamy had never been a fan of enclosed spaces, particularly not after crawling through the air ducts at Mount Weather for days trying desperately to find a way to protect his people. The experience had given him a newfound respect for Octavia. Still, Bellamy had to acknowledge that any kind of barrier between the Ark's newer arrivals and the Grounder territory outside was probably a good thing. The 100 knew by now how to navigate Earth, but the survivors of the Ark's landing had a lot to learn before Bellamy would trust any of them to leave camp without supervision. 37 delinquents had died within the hastily assembled walls he had pushed them so hard to finish before the rest of the Arkadians had even set foot on the ground, and Bellamy had learned something from each of their deaths. He wouldn't make the same mistakes twice. These walls would work. These walls would keep his people safe.

"Nice of you to show up, Bellamy." Harper smirked as he entered the training room, and a few of the younger guardsmen chuckled. The older among them seemed less amused, but Bellamy wasn't sure if they were displeased with his tardiness or simply refused to relax in the presence of Lincoln. Bellamy couldn't blame them; he knew and trusted Lincoln, but after what Lexa did at Mount Weather any other Grounder training the guards would have put Bellamy on edge. "Give him a break, Harper. It's hard to keep track of time when you're on watch, standing there with literally nothing else to do _except_ keep track of time," Monty countered with a sarcastically sympathetic pat on Bellamy's shoulder. Even the older guards laughed under their breath; after the initial violence of the first few weeks on the ground none of them were accustomed to the boredom of relative peace. Monty was more of a consultant than a member of the guard, but he had expressed interest in learning how to defend himself and Kane had agreed to let him join the guards for combat training sessions. Bellamy had mentioned to Monty on more than one occasion that the guard could use someone like Monty- someone who understood the threats outside the walls but always looked for more creative solutions than pointing and shooting. Monty always said no. He wanted to focus on finding his family and the rest of farm station, and the distrust for authority ingrained in all of the delinquents made Monty hesitant to join the ranks of the people that had locked him up on the Ark.

"Starting to think I should've left your asses in Mount Weather," Bellamy muttered, soliciting a grin from Harper and Monty. In the 3 weeks since escaping Mount Weather, Bellamy had found that the best way to put his people at ease about the ordeal was to joke about it. If Bellamy could convince the others that he had put it behind him, they might be able to actually move past it themselves. Of course, Jasper's tendency to pass out in a drunken stupor in random places throughout camp set Bellamy's efforts back somewhat. It had become such a common occurrence that Bellamy and Raven had made it into a game, placing bets on where Jasper would be passed out and how early in the day. Drinks were on the loser, which was Bellamy acknowledged was a slightly hypocritical prize. Both Raven and Bellamy admitted it was a depressing game and probably reflected on something deeply flawed with themselves that they were using Jasper's grief as a way to pass the time, but neither of them really knew how else to handle what was happening. Bellamy was feeling Clarke's absence and the weight of what he had done to help her save their people, and Raven's host of problems weren't being helped by the fact that Wick, in Raven's words, was "taking some space," which considering how much Raven downplayed her problems meant he must be acting like a President Cage (Junior) level asshole. Unlike everyone else, Jasper wasn't hiding his suffering. As much as it hurt to see him like this, focusing on Jasper's problems made it easier to pretend that theirs didn't exist, so Bellamy and Raven agreed that as long as Monty didn't find out about their game it wasn't hurting anyone. Lincoln had once overheard Bellamy and Raven arguing about whether Jasper passing out in the hallway between the mess hall (Raven's bet) and the nearby supply closet (Bellamy's bet) meant that it was a tie and neither of them had to buy the other drinks or a tie and they both had to buy the other drinks. By the look on Lincoln's face Bellamy thought he must be wondering how Octavia could have possibly turned out so well with family like Bellamy, but instead Lincoln had shrugged, noted that Jasper technically passed out closer to the mess hall which meant Bellamy owed Raven, and walked away.

Lincoln moved toward Bellamy from the back of the room, where he had been waiting apart from the rest of the guard. It was more for their sake than his; Lincoln could sense better than anyone the distrust from the majority of Skaikru. Kane had hoped to start mending Grounder-Arkadian relations by having Lincoln teach the guard Grounder combat techniques. It seemed odd to Lincoln to try to broker peace through teaching war, but he respected Kane and was willing to help in whatever way he could. When Lincoln first moved into Arkadia he had thought his relationship with Octavia might help Skaikru see him as something other than a threat, but Lincoln soon realized that Octavia was no more a part of Skaikru than he was. If anything, the Arkadians accepted Octavia's place among them even less than Lincoln's. At least Octavia had stopped wanting their approval a long time ago. Lincoln, on the other hand, was finding it hard not to lose patience with Skaikru's lack of trust. If not for the presence of Bellamy and the handful of delinquents in the guard, Lincoln wasn't sure how long he would be able to last within the camp walls.

"Right, sorry to be late everyone-well, almost everyone," Bellamy paused pointedly, shaking his head in Harper and Monty's direction. The same direction, he noticed. They were standing pretty close together lately, which Bellamy wouldn't have thought anything of if Raven hadn't mentioned something about it earlier. He grinned and continued. "To make up for it I'll be sure not to waste any more of your time- partner up. Lincoln you're with me. Lincoln-" Bellamy nodded, handing the room over to the Grounder. In spite of the tension in the room, Lincoln seemed relaxed. "Today we'll continue hand to hand techniques, no weapons. You have guns, which gives you the advantage at a distance. But what I've noticed is that you hide behind your guns, and are left more or less defenseless when the fight gets close. It's not that you don't know how to fight, it's that you don't know how _we_ fight. Hopefully you won't have to use what I teach you, but if my people know you can hold your own they're more likely to respect you enough not to provoke a fight in the first place. So, watch me and Bellamy, then implement what I do when you spar with your own partner." Bellamy rolled his shoulders, and squared up against Lincoln. Bellamy always regretted volunteering for these ass kickings in the few seconds before they started, but he knew he was one of the few members of the guard that wouldn't take Lincoln's hits personally. "You ready?" Lincoln, always the gentleman before landing kicks and punches that left Bellamy sore for days. Bellamy smiled ruefully. "I guess we'll find out," Bellamy braced himself as he replied. Bellamy had only dodged one swift kick when the door opened and Miller's voice interrupted "Hey, Blake! Kane wants to see you. Lincoln too- damn!" the last comment was uttered as Lincoln took advantage of Bellamy's distraction and landed a solid hit to Bellamy's shoulder. Lincoln turned to the room. "Short version of today's lesson: don't lose focus. Sorry, Bellamy." Bellamy gave a rueful half smile as he stood straight. "Lesson learned. Let's go."


	3. Chapter 3: Orders

"Sir."

"Miller, give us the room." Miller obliged, leaving Bellamy and Lincoln alone with Kane. Bellamy shifted anxiously- eagerly, if he was being honest with himself. Kane calling for him before Bellamy's scheduled report meant that something urgent must be happening. Lincoln's presence probably meant it had something to do with the Grounders. Bellamy certainly wasn't eager to go to war, but whatever message the Grounders were sending had to be better than sitting around in anticipation of the unknown. As the door closed behind Miller- somewhat reluctantly; Miller's duty to follow orders barely outweighing his curiosity- Kane addressed Lincoln and Bellamy.

"The Chancellor has a job for you two. Scouting mission."

"All due respect, sir, how is that different from what we've been doing the past 3 weeks?" Bellamy hardly bothered to conceal his irritation. Bellamy understood better than almost anyone in Arkadia how high the stakes were on the ground, and it never ceased to amaze him how slowly everyone else seemed to be coming to the same conclusion. They understood the threat of Grounders, maybe, but not the ground itself. None of the people in charge now had spent more than a night or two on the ground without the protection of walls or an armed guard. None of the people in charge had been prisoners in Mount Weather, or prisoners on the Ark for that matter. Bellamy didn't scare easily, but the realization that the almost incessant danger his people experienced had happened just within a relatively small radius of where their ship had landed always brought him close to panic. There was still so much to learn about Earth, and if the past was any indication of the future Bellamy was not looking forward to that education.

"This is a covert mission. Just you two, plus two civilians the Chancellor is sending for her own purposes. You two are technically security, but I'd like you to do as much recon as possible while you're there and report your findings back to me." Bellamy was surprised to see that Kane didn't seem displeased with Bellamy's interruption. If anything, Kane looked apologetic. Lincoln noticed it to, asking "Where exactly does the Chancellor want to send us?" Kane sighed before saying, almost defensively, "Mount Weather."

An uncomfortable pause. The room seemed to tighten with the tension in Bellamy's jaw and the narrowing of Lincoln's eyes. "That's not a good idea. Sir." Lincoln spoke first. After Clarke had left, a clean-up unit of the guard had gone to Mount Weather and spent a day disposing of the bodies inside. Although at Lincoln's advice Chancellor Griffin had agreed to keep the Arkadians out of Mount Weather permanently, both parties agreed that they couldn't just leave the dead uncared for. Bellamy hadn't handled the bodies himself, but he had stood watch outside Mount Weather, trying unsuccessfully to disregard the growing rows of civilians, soldiers, doctors, and politicians he had helped kill being brought out behind him. It was fortunate that no Grounders came to Mount Weather to dispute what Skaikru was doing that day- Bellamy would have been too distracted to see them coming. Even as he had looked out at the miles of forest in front of him, Bellamy couldn't stop seeing the row of kids heading off to class, smiling at the uniform he had killed one of their fathers to get.

Since the clean-up unit, no one had ventured even close to Mount Weather. Lincoln had made it clear that the Grounders would see Skaikru as the second Mountain Men if they spent too much time there, and the haggard looks of the delinquents who had been prisoners in the mountain were enough to convince anyone who wasn't threatened by the idea of war with the Grounders that Mount Weather was not a place they wanted to go.

"I understand where you're coming from, but this isn't us moving in to Mount Weather. It's a covert scouting mission, just seeing what's there that we can use. It wouldn't be practical to leave all of those supplies untouched. We don't want to draw attention at this point, so the Chancellor would appreciate your discretion." Kane sounded tired, and not entirely convinced by his own defense. Bellamy was willing to bet that Kane was just repeating what Chancellor Griffin had told Kane when he had made the same protests Bellamy and Lincoln were making now. Bellamy could think of a million arguments against going to Mount Weather, but he knew he would only be voicing the same concerns that the Chancellor had found unconvincing from Kane. If Kane hadn't been able to change Chancellor Griffin's mind, Bellamy didn't stand a chance of stopping this mission. He could always refuse to go, but Kane would just send someone else in his place. Better Bellamy than one of the original members of the guard. They were good soldiers, but none of them really had their priorities straight in terms of what to be afraid of on the ground. Bellamy interrupted Lincoln's calmly voiced protests. "When do we leave?" Bellamy made sure to let his resentment thread his question, to make sure Lincoln understood that Bellamy was just as opposed to this as Lincoln was. Kane relaxed slightly. "In two hours. We want to keep this under wraps, to keep any civilians from starting rumors about moving into Mount Weather. Word gets around and we can't afford to cause any further rift with the Grounders. Keep this between yourselves, and meet outside the walls. A fully supplied rover will be waiting for you, along with the two civilians who you'll be escorting. Be back by tonight, wait until it's dark to come back inside so you can return with as little attention as possible."

"Who are the civilians? I'd like to know whose ass we're supposed to be covering- aside from the Chancellor's." Bellamy knew his anger towards the Chancellor was maybe slightly unjustified; it couldn't be an easy job anywhere, much less on the ground. Still, she hadn't turned the job down. She had to have known what she was getting into. Bellamy couldn't help but think that the Chancellor was falling short of the bar Clarke had set when she was leading the 100.

Kane ignored Bellamy's last comment. "Abby's- the Chancellor's medical assistant Jackson, and Gina Martin- she's been spending most of her time since coming to the ground helping get our food supplies organized and distributed. The Chancellor's already given them instructions regarding what to look for. I'd like you two to do a more military related evaluation- weapons stock, defensive capabilities in case of emergency, that kind of thing. And be sure to tell me if you run into any trouble from Grounders while you're there. Hopefully if an issue comes up you can resolve it peacefully, but take weapons. Don't shoot unless you have to. This is just a scouting mission."

"I'm not taking a gun," Lincoln stated. Kane nodded, unsurprised. "Whatever you need to do," he acquiesced. "If there's no further questions, you're dismissed." Kane paused, unsure how to express his sympathy for what he was asking of the two young men in front of him. "And…thank you. From me and the Chancellor." Bellamy stared at him for a moment, evaluating Kane's sincerity. "Tell the Chancellor 'you're welcome' from me," Bellamy finally said with a sarcastic grin. Kane smiled as Lincoln and Bellamy left the room.

"Well. Guess I'll see you in a couple hours," Bellamy said to Lincoln outside the door. Lincoln was clearly still angry, and seemed to be debating whether to vent his frustrations to Bellamy or stay silent. He opted for silence, not wanting to draw the attention of any passing Skaikru. The last thing Lincoln needed was exaggerated rumors about the angry, threatening Grounder who hated the Chancellor. Lincoln walked to his bunk quickly without acknowledging Bellamy's comment. Normally he would have gone straight to Octavia to voice his frustration, but to add insult to injury the Chancellor wanted this mission a secret. Anything that Lincoln had to keep from Octavia was not a good thing.

Bellamy walked slowly through the halls towards his bunk. He knew he needed to start getting his gear together, but he was dreading the whole excursion to Mount Weather.

"What did Kane want?" Bellamy looked up to see Monty walking towards him. Bellamy shrugged, "Just some new guard member that got spooked on watch and thought they saw something threatening. It _was_ very threatening, actually- for a tree. Where you headed?" Bellamy redirected, hoping to move on to a subject he wouldn't have to lie about. Monty's expression grew serious as he said "Jasper. Somebody said they saw him passed out under that big tree by the south side of the wall." Bellamy nodded sympathetically. He knew it must be especially hard on Monty to see Jasper like this, although Bellamy couldn't really relate to the feeling. Close friendships had been something Bellamy had done his best to avoid on the Ark. It was better not to have friends over when you were hiding an illegal sister under the floor. Monty shrugged, trying to lighten the mood. "Well, duty calls. I better go wake Jasper up before somebody else tries to." Bellamy chuckled. "Yeah, that could be dangerous. Good luck, Monty."

"Ha, 'good luck.' That'd be a new one. See ya." Monty walked on past Bellamy. Bellamy watched him go for a second or two, wondering if he should have said something better to improve Monty's mood. As if Monty wouldn't have seen through any bullshit comforting words Bellamy could've come up with anyway. Bellamy continued towards his bunk. As he walked down the hall, a thought occurred to him and he cursed inwardly. Raven had bet Jasper would pass out by the radio tower outside, while Bellamy had placed his bet on the hallway outside the weapons storage room. Not even close. Drinks would be on Bellamy, again. "Damnit," he said under his breath. Whether it was because he'd lost again or because Jasper had passed out again, Bellamy didn't want to dwell on it. He wasn't sure which reason- how jaded he had grown to the situation or the situation itself- was more depressing.


	4. Chapter 4: Road Trip

Bellamy crawled through the passage in the wall Kane had instructed him and Lincoln to use to in order to pass to the other side of Arkadia undetected. Bellamy wasn't a big guy and even for him it was a tight fit; he couldn't imagine how Lincoln was going to squeeze through. To Bellamy's surprise, he found Lincoln already waiting at the Rover, working hard to avoid the eye contact of Jackson and the other civilian- Gina Martin. The name sounded familiar but Bellamy couldn't place it- he assumed he'd probably seen it on a civilian roster during his short-lived stint as a guard cadet. The guard was the first time Bellamy had really gotten to see what life was like on other stations. People from poorer stations like Bellamy's didn't have much to do with the rest of the Ark. The privileged wanted nothing to do with any reminders that society was not as advanced as they liked to think, and to make this treatment less insulting the poor pretended they wanted nothing to do with snobs who didn't have the guts to rough it. Bellamy remembered the first time he had shadowed the guard for an inspection on Alpha station; he had been shocked to walk through units with single bedrooms bigger than the entire space he shared with Octavia and their mother. Bellamy had thought it would have been nice to have a room to himself, but more importantly there would have been room for a much bigger hiding spot for Octavia.

"Hey how'd you get out here so fast?" Bellamy asked Lincoln, looking back to make sure nobody had followed him. Lincoln grinned. "I walked out the gates. Amazing how easy it is to be stealthy when you're not carrying your weight in weapons and ammunition."

"We sky people have never claimed subtlety as a strong suit. We usually just opt for an actual strong suit of armor," Gina spoke up as she slid off of her seat on the hood of the rover. "That and a really overworked medical team," she added to Jackson. "Yeah about that Bellamy- me and Abby were wondering if you could maybe pass on to the rest of the guard to stop doing dangerous things- it would really help us out." Jackson's tone was light but he was clearly nervous to be outside the walls. Bellamy figured Jackson must really think Mountain Weather was a valuable medical resource if he was willing to risk potential Grounder retaliation for it. Or maybe Jackson was just doing what the Chancellor asked him to do- it wouldn't be the first time someone had done something against their better judgement for a Griffin.

"I'll keep that in mind, Jackson. If someone attacks you I'll make sure not to get in the way." Bellamy said, his voice muffled from the inside of the rover where he was checking supplies. Satisfied with what Kane had provided them, he turned to the small group in front of him. Jackson wasn't a fighter, and Bellamy didn't know Gina well enough to trust her to have his back in a fight. If anything went down, Lincoln was Bellamy's only backup. Not bad odds. In fact, if he was being honest, without guns Bellamy was more like Lincoln's backup. Bellamy broke the silence that had settled among the group. "We good? Let's head out then."

It was a 2-hour drive to Mount Weather, and Bellamy had somehow managed to maintain silence throughout the entire first hour and apparently didn't have any different plans for the second. Gina wasn't sure if he was intentionally ignoring her or if he was just very focused on the road. Not that there was an actual road to focus on, but from what little Gina had been told about driving focusing on the road was something you were supposed to do. She occasionally turned back to try and join in Lincoln and Jackson's conversation in the back of the rover, but Jackson was enthusiastically grilling Lincoln on the various Grounder methods of medicine and she didn't want to interrupt Jackson when he seemed so happy. Before the Ark had landed on the ground Gina hadn't known Jackson well, but she had taken more than a few trips to the med bay while helping allocate supplies over the past few weeks and while she still didn't know Jackson well, she knew his job wasn't easy- in space or on the ground. Gina glanced over at Bellamy again. Watching his fingers tapping on the steering wheel, a third option occurred to her. Maybe Bellamy was just awkward. Gina smiled to herself. She could work with awkward. "So Blake, where'd you learn how to drive?" Bellamy jumped slightly at the break in the silence. Definitely awkward. "Outside camp, about a week ago. How am I doing?" he asked, the question coming out somehow both confident and self-deprecating. "You're the best driver I've ever ridden in a car with," Gina replied solemnly. Bellamy took a rare glance away from the road to look at Gina, his face serious. "You've been riding in other people's cars? Wow. I'm not mad I just think it would've been nice if you had at least mentioned it to me. You know, so I could've been taking other passengers for rides. I didn't know we were doing that, is all. It's fine though, really. I'm cool with it- happy, actually. I've had other passengers asking me for rides but I always said no and now I can say yes so it's great. Great." Gina laughed. "No no, this my first car ride, I swear! But I could get a car ride from anyone, and I think you take that for granted."

"Considering that we just found these rovers a few weeks ago and Raven is still yelling in frustration daily at the poor guardsmen she's trying to teach how to drive, I don't think you actually could get a car ride from anyone. Just saying."

"I could get a car ride from Raven," Gina countered. Bellamy nodded, "You got me there," he agreed. Their chuckles drifted off as silence took over the rover again. Bellamy slowed to a stop. They had arrived at Mount Weather.


End file.
